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"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). As the translation of this passage cannot be improved, and the words are plain, no verbal exegesis is required. The subject is Christ and God, and we are here taught —

I. THAT CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL REVEALER OF GOD. "In the beginning was the Word" — the Logos. He is not a word but the word. As the Revealer, this Word is distinguished —

1. By its faithfulness. Christ is the exact exponent of the Divine intellect and heart.

2. By its fulness. Other words only speak part of God.

3. By its forcefulness. Human words are sometimes powerful, they are not always air; they are sometimes a force. God's words in nature are mighty.

II. THAT CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SELF OF GOD. "And the Word was with God." The expression implies that He had a conscious existence distinct from the Absolute One. He was with Him. He that is with me is not me.

1. Christ was with Him in the sense of agreement. There was a perfect concurrence.

2. Christ was with him in the sense of contact. Never out of His presence, living in His light, breathing His inspirations.

III. THAT CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SELF OF GOD. "And the Word was God."

1. "He was God" in form. Deep, it would seem, in the constitution of moral soul, is the craving for some form of God. As He appears in the universe, He transcends the limits of human vision. Christ is the form He has assumed; the form in which, in all probability, He appears to His intelligent universe as well as to man.

2. "He was God" in action. Through Him the eternal volitions are carried out and realized. He is the Actualizer of God's eternal ideas.

(D. Thomas, D. D.)

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KJV: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

WEB: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.